Live this weekend:Sunday - Lumezzane v. Reggiana on E'tv at 1.30 p.m. GMTSunday - Portogruaro v. Andria BAT on Viva l'Italia at 1.30 p.m.Monday - Viareggio v. Tritium on Rai Sport 1 at 7.45 p.m.SportItalia are now showing a Lega Pro match every Friday night at either 7.30 or 7.45 p.m. The Sport Italia channel is scrambled, but the transmission can be seen on line at www.calcion.eu

Sadly, James Richardson was too busy for us at The Football Express. So we’ve got the next best thing, Lega Pro expert, Steve Mitchell to provide us with a round-up of the season so far in the Italian third and fourth tiers. If you’ve missed it so far, this will get you right back up to speed in no time at all.

After 1412 games, 1676 goals and 23 managerial changes, Italy’s third and fourth tiers went into their winter break. Congratulations go out to Ternana, Siracusa, Casale and Perugia who were crowned winter champions of their respective divisions.

The season got under way in early September with a new look to the structure of the championship . The make up of the C1 division remained as it had done from the previous season consisting of two divisions with 18 clubs assigned to each of them. It was in C2 (the fourth tier) that the financial crisis that annually effects clubs in the lower echelons of the Italian game hit harder than ever as a whole division was lost reducing the championship to two divisions totaling 41 clubs.

By the end of the first month of action trigger happy bosses had already started to lose their nerve and, before a single leaf had fallen from the trees, five managers already found themselves out of work culminating in a crazy seven days at the end of September which saw three dismissals in as many days. The early season crisis that enveloped some clubs could not have been further from the minds of Taranto’s players as they displayed scintillating form to hit the summit of C1A in the early weeks of the campaign.

The reason for their remarkable start to the campaign was attributed to the clubs president, Vincenzo D’Addario, allowing the players to enjoy the luxuries on board his personal yacht prior to matches but as the winter sabbatical approached, there was mutiny in the ranks as the players threatened strike action due to non-payment of wages. D’Addario has since coughed up the monies owed to his staff and the club sit nicely in second spot just a point off the summit. Indeed, if it hadn’t been for a three point penalty inflicted on the side at the start of the current campaign (in respect of financial irregularities from the previous campaign) they would now be top of the table.

C1 A is beautifully poised going into the 2nd half of the season with Carpi in third spot and Foggia in 12th position only being separated by eight points which is close but not as close as the B section of the championship, which sees Trapani in second and Frosinone in 12th again only divided by eight points. Everyone in C1B is looking up enviously at Siracusa who have turned around a minus-three point deficit at the start of the season (again for financial misdemeanour’s from the previous campaign) to lead the chasing pack by three points at the break. The Sicilians have been riding the crest of a wave since the end of October and look like the team to beat going into 2012.

The goalscoring charts in C1 have been dominated by two old stager’s. Ciro Ginestra, Sorrento’s big summer signing from Crotone and Denis Godeas, Triestina’s seasoned campaigner both head the hot shot list of their respective divisions. Godeas’s form in front of goal for the Unione is the only piece of positive news to come out of the club after they announced this week that they are bankrupt with debts totaling six million euros and club president Sergio Aletti facing a possible prison sentence.

Casale, the club with the star on their shirts, have been playing like superstars in the first half of the season and head up the C2A championship by four points going into the winter break. Staying in division A, many congratulations must go to young San Marino striker Gianluca Lapadula. The 21-year-old hit-man on loan from Parma heads the goalscoring table having found the net on 13 occasions so far this campaign.

It is in C2B where the real fairytale story is beginning to develop with former Serie A representatives Perugia leading the rest by five points. Less than two years ago the club was declared bankrupt and had to start all over again in Serie D, Italy’s fifth division. But, under the tutelage of coach Pier Francesco Battistini, the club has undergone a road to Damascus style recovery and are now facing the very real prospect of back to back promotions as the good times return to the Stadio Renato Curi.

Another success story coming out of division B involves the club that were the last to be allowed to compete in the C2 championship. Catanzaro, who were staring into oblivion last summer have had a memorable four months since the start of the new campaign to consolidate third place in the winter standings. It was only in late August that the club secured their place in the division thanks mainly to the financial clout of club president Giuseppe Cosentino who salvaged the Calabrians from financial meltdown.

Looking ahead to 2012

With over 400 players in Lega Pro under the age of 21 promoting youth development has never been more important, so it was a major coup for Lega president Mario Macalli to secure the services of Marcello Lippi as an ambassador for the championship to help the controlling powers attempt to encourage more clubs to invest in younger players. At the end of January, the best young talent in Lega Pro will be showcased at the 32nd Quadrangular tournament taking place in Normanna and Avellino. The competition is made up of four representative teams from C1 A and B and C2 A and B consisting of teams featuring the best players under the age of 21. The two semi-finals will see C1A take on C2A and C1B go head to head with C2B with the two winners progressing to the final in Avellino in late January.

In February, Spezia, Viareggio, Poggibonsi, Arzanese and Virtus Entella will be Lega Pro’s representatives at the 64th Viareggio Cup, the most important youth tournament in world football. Off the field, a new television deal with Italian sports broadcaster Sportitalia along with the current agreement with Rai Sport, ensures that two games are now shown live each week giving more exposure to clubs in the lower reaches.

The most controversial topic of conversation going into the New Year centres around the possibility of making Lega Pro a more condensed championship by having just three divisions (North, Central and South)consisting of 20 teams in each. Reports coming out of the peninsula suggest that president Macalli is in favour of restructuring the league but such a move would be sure to face stiff opposition from certain quarters.

Keep up to date with all the Lega Pro news at The Football Express and on Twitter with the ever-excellent Steve Mitchell (@barafundler).

Steve Mitchell returns with a round up of the biggest stories in the Italian 3rd and 4th tiers. This week he looks at some of the leagues’ high-flying youngsters, a player suspected of robbing petrol stations and Pro Vercelli’s impressive rise into the play-offs.

The most famous sports daily newspaper in Italy, La Gazzetta Dello Sport has thrown its considerable weight behind the lower leagues this season in an attempt to single out the most promising young talent in the peninsula. For the 2011/12 campaign, the celebrated pink broadsheet is running two competitions the Premio Cestani to find the best young player in Lega Pro born after 1990 and the Premio Laudano which recognises the top young marksman in the third and fourth tiers and applies to those players in the same age category.

The Premio Cestani takes its name in recognition of the work done by former Lega Pro President Ugo Cestani who incidentally was succeeded by current FIGC chief Giancarlo Abete. Whereas the Premio Laudano has been created in honour of Mario Laudano, a celebrated journalist who spent 40 years with the newspaper writing mainly about life in the lower echelons of the game.

As we enter the second-half of the campaign, the two competitions’ tables are headed by the same player, US Vibonese’s Senegalese striker Souleymane Doukara. The 20-year-old hit man has spent the past three years coming through the ranks at Serie D side Rovigo where he netted 28 times in 69 appearances. His final tally for last season was 11. This season, with his new employers in C2 he has already found the net on nine occasions which puts him head and shoulders above his rivals for the Laudano trophy at present. His average pagelle from La Gazzetta (marks out of ten per game), currently resides at 6.50 which joint top in the Cestani trophy with Renate goalkeeper Matteo Pisseri.

Pisseri is currently on loan at the C2 side from his home town club Parma and the 20-year-old shot stopper has been gaining some rave reviews for his performances this season despite Renate sitting in mid-table obscurity at the present time. Being a young goalkeeper at Parma, many observers will look at the comparison between Pisseri and the legendary Gianluigi Buffon who first came to prominence at the Stadio Ennio Tardini. Obviously, its one step at a time for the young custodian but if his exceptional form continues, he could be a name to look out for in the future.

Doukara’s fabulous start to the season at Vibonese has been somewhat overshadowed this week by the news that his team-mate, the 20-year-old defender, Maicon Oliva has been arrested by police in connection with three robberies committed at petrol stations in the province of Cosenza. The youngster was taken away during training yesterday leaving club president, Giuseppe Caffo to deal with a startled media. The club have issued an official statement stating their surprise at the incident, and little else.

In more light hearted news, Pro Vercelli have been giving away mini t-shirts to all babies born in the city’s main hospital between January 1 up until the start of last weekends game against Como. Its a good time to be a Vercelli supporter with the team riding the quest of a wave at the moment. Sundays 2-0 win at the Stadio Silvio Piola keeps them in touch with league leaders Ternana.

Foggia are going global and are currently hot property in Japan thanks to the website Calcio 2002 which has been created by Japanese journalist Norikazu Sato who has followed the fortunes of the club from Puglia since legendary coach Zdenek Zeman took charge in 2010. The club now has a page dedicated to it every month and hopes to attract support from the Far East.

On the field this week, C1A leaders Ternana continued their excellent form with a 3-0 demolition of Viareggio. C1B pace setters Siracusa had to be content with a goalless draw at home to Latina, whilst in C2A there was a surprise result at the Stadio Olimpico in San Marino as the home side upset high flying Casale with a 3-1 win.

C2B saw Ebolitana’s woes continue as the cash strapped team went down to a 1-6 home defeat to Gavorrano. Due to structural issues, the game was played away from the Stadio Dirceu and this week, the city’s mayor Martino Melchionda has stated that he is in advanced talks with a mystery party in an attempt to save the club’s future. League leaders Perugia played out a dire 0-0 with Aversa Normanna in front of the live Sportitalia cameras on Friday night.

30 years ago, a promising young 17-year-old striker called Stefano Borgonova made his debut for Como in a Serie A game against Ascoli. It was the clubs debut season in the top-flight of Italian football and Borgonova looked to have the world at his feet. While the club where he served his apprenticeship fell out of the limelight, Borgonova continued to enjoy the trappings of a top professional footballer spending time at AC Milan, Fiorentina & Udinese which ultimately led to three International call-ups for the Azzurri in 1989.

Stefano Borgonovo: A hero in Como, also won a Scudetto, European Cup and Intercontinental Cup with Milan under Sacchi.After retiring from football in 1996, Borgonova returned to the club that had given him his big break when he was asked to join the coaching staff at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. In 2006 he was in placed in charge of the Primavera side, but just two years later tragedy struck when he was diagnosed with the neurological disease known as SLA (sclerose laterale amyotrophique), a condition which effects the nervous system and which ultimately leads to paralysis.

When the news of Borgonova’s illness became public, former teammates including Paolo Maldini and Roberto Baggio helped their ex colleague set up his own foundation, called the Fondazione Stefano Borgonovo onlus. It is an organisation which raises money to help fund research into the illness.

To help the foundation raise awareness in the peninsula, Como played the whole of last season with the foundation logo emblazoned across their shirts and at the end of the campaign, the majority of the jerseys were auctioned off with all proceeds going to the Borgonova trust. This week, one of the remaining shirts has been given to The Spanish Museum Of Football in Madrid where it will be displayed with Barcelona’s Unicef shirt and Fiorentina’s Save The Children jersey. Borgonova and his wife Chantal were ecstatic at hearing the news.

On the field, its been an eventful week for Como after the club threw away a two goal lead last Sunday against Foligno, their coach Ernesto Ramella was sacked and replaced by his assistant Giuseppe Manari whose time in the hot seat will commence with a daunting trip to in-form Sorrento on Sunday. Another coach who can put his feet up for the rest of the season is Gianluca Grassadonia, relieved of his duties at Paganese on Wednesday. The new man at the helm at the Stadio Marcello Torre is Pino Palumbo who returns to the club where he was sacked after just 11 games last season.

Ternana extend their lead at the top of C1A thanks to a 2-0 home win against Tritium. Their nearest challengers, Taranto were suprisingly held to a goalles draw at Spal. Pavia prop up the rest after they were beaten 0-2 at home by Sorrento. Foligno’s surprise point in Como lifts them off the foot of the table but they remain seven points from safety.

Siracusa are a point clear of Trapani at the summit of C1B after the Sicilians won a tight encounter at third place Portogruaro, a goal from Argentinian striker Lucas Longoni 13 minutes from time gave Andrea Sottil’s men all three points. Triestina finally had something to cheer about after an horrific couple of weeks running out comprehensive 3-0 winners at home to Virtus Lanciano.

After last weeks minor blip, Casale top the standings once again in C2A after a comfortable home win against Sambonifacese. Rimini leapfrog over Treviso into second spot after they beat Borgo a Buggiano 2-0 and the Biancoceleste were held to a 1-1 draw at lowly Savona. In C2B the dream of back to back promotions for Perugia took a step nearer reality as Il Grifone won 1-0 away at Chieti. L’Aquila hammered crisis club Ebolitana 3-0 at the Stadio Tommaso Fattori to keep up the pressure in second spot.

The dates for the 32nd edition of the Torneo Quadrangolare Lega Pro have now been confirmed. The two semi-finals will feature an Under 21 representative side from C1A take on their C2A counterparts and one from C1B do likewise with C2B. The games will take place on Tuesday January 24 at the Stadio Augusto Bisceglie in Aversa. The third and fourth place play-off and final will be staged in Avellino at the Stadio Partenio on Thursday January 26. A full review of the tournament will appear on these pages in the coming weeks.

In the late eighties and early nineties Giovanni Stroppa was an attacking midfielder who was an integral part of the all conquering AC Milan dynasty. Stroppa was a product of the Milanello youth academy and he would later continue his top-flight career at Lazio and with the iconic Zdenek Zeman in Foggia.

With Arrigo Sacchi, Fabio Capello and Zeman all major influences in his playing career it is no surprise to see the 44-year-old now making great strides in his first coaching role at C1 side Sudtirol. This week, Stroppa has been speaking about how much he is enjoying life in the beautiful city of Bolzano and the comparisons he sees between his current employers and that of the team that gave him his big break.”It is obvious to everyone that you cannot compare Sudtirol with Milan” explained Stroppa “we are a very small club but the organisation here is reminiscent of my time at Milanello”

He gave an insight into how he feels about the current crop of players he has at his disposal: “I have a squad of serious professionals who are in perfect harmony with each other, I am extremely proud of my players” The team has some exciting young talent to boast about, none more so than local boy Manuel Fischnaller, a 20-year-old striker who is straight out of the clubs highly regarded youth system.

The youngster took his tally to eight for the season last weekend after grabbing his side’s equaliser in their 2-1 away win at Frosinone and was rewarded with a call-up to Luigi Di Biagio’s Under 20 National side for Tuesday’s friendly game in Macedonia. Fischnaller was joined in the squad by his goalkeeping colleague Alessandro Iacobucci with both players starting the match that ended in a 2-2 draw. The squad announcement was a triumph for Lega Pro with ten players in total being given an international call-up.

The development of young players is currently a top priority for the Lega Pro executive committee and they were given a huge boost this week when the games governing body, the FIGC announced it was to give the league a 16 million euro cash injection to aid the clubs in the nurturing of young talent.

This windfall came only days after one of the league’s executives, Francesco Ghirelli explained that “we have to cut our league down to 60 teams, three divisions of 20 clubs, we cannot keep relying on Serie A teams to provide the players for us” . The ramifications of this would of course, be massive and Lega Pro looks set for (another) summer of discontent.

‘Discontent’ is the word that describes the current situation at C2 side Ebolitana. A week after players had to lock themselves in the dressing room after being set upon by disgruntled fans during a training session, the club ordered a press blackout ahead of last Sunday’s home match against Neapolis. The main stand at the Stadio Dirceu was closed to all media with no-one really knowing just who is actually in charge at the moment – watch this space for more details.

Sorrento Calcio took the award for gesture of the week inviting seaman Gianmaria Cesaro to be their guest of honour for Sunday’s home match against Como. Cesaro, who lives in the area, had been held captive for 10 months by Somalian pirates and the tifosi at the Stadio Campo Italia had been campaigning furiously on his behalf for the Italian government to negotiate his release. Prior to kick-off on Sunday Cesaro did a lap of honour around the pitch in what was naturally an emotional moment for him and his family.

A 2-0 win for Sorrento on Sunday moves them up into fourth place in the C1A table. There was a major surprise at the top as leaders Ternana were held at Foligno whilst second placed Taranto won away at bottom club Pavia to cut the gap to just a point. Carpi sit third after a 1-1 draw at Lumezzane. This weekends big match sees Sorrento travel to Taranto on Monday night in front of the live TV cameras.

Siracusa remain a point clear at the summit of C1B thanks to a 2-0 home win over Triestina, whose immediate future is now in doubt following the clubs announcement that it is unable to make inroads into its six million euro debt and has declared itself bankrupt. Trapani keep up the pressure in second spot after a 2-1 win at Feralpi Salo.

There was a huge upset in C2A were table toppers Casale were toppled on their own patch by Bellaria Igea Marina. The chasing pack failed to take advantage however with San Marino the only side in the top 5 to claim maximum points. In C2B a Mancini has signed for Juventus with the son of Sampdoria legend Roberto, 19-year-old striker Andrea, signing for Fano Alma Juventus on loan until the end of the season. The club will hope the addition of the youngster will give the whole team a lift as they currently sit dangerously close to the play-out positions. At the top of C2B, Perugia march on after a 2-0 home win over Melfi.

Follow Steve Mitchell on twitter (@barafundler) for updates throughout the week with regard to all levels of the Italian game.